Ideas needed for Fish Room

[pepetj]

I intend to build a fishroom in a neglected area in my office. It's a section of our internal patio that has one entry door (made of steel bars) and ends in a wall. Originally this alley went around the house structure but it was closed by hollow clay blocks. It has no roof over it.


I will provide measurements as we move along this project.

My first question is: what would be a fairly good cost-effective roofing solution. We need to consider security (prevent brake ins) and weather (I live in the Caribbean were seasonal tropical storms -even hurricanes- eventually pay us a visit.


So let's focus on the roofing first.

Any ideas?

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

[Skip]

you are better off getting a contractor to fix your roof issue? esp in islands.. since any roof would be hurricane rated.. however,.. i do not know if there are those kinds of building standards where you live..

are the two opposite walls the same height? one looks taller then the other..

[Yboat]

Whats the diffrence in the wall hieghts?


The pitch makes a huge diffrence on what I would recomend.

[Skip]

Whats the diffrence in the wall hieghts?


The pitch makes a huge diffrence on what I would recomend.

your walls hold up the roof.. are the walls level or not? .. it will impact the truss design..

yb.. you are looking at the design from top down.. i being a civil engineer.. can't help but start from foundation and work my way up..!

[Yboat]

I'm a general contractor. I look at whats easyest to build.
This is standard UBC/IBC stuff no engineering needed.


PS I was trained as a sturctural engineer... I don't miss it one bit.

[Altum Nut]

In my opinion, I would definitely go with a steel truss, the industrial engineered ones... and metal roof.
Your roof pitch seems sufficient but what is on the outside. Meaning, is it someone else’s patio?
Anything I would do first is a good cleaning on those concrete walls.
Is it mold or just weathered?

...Ralph

[Tito]

If you're a contractor I think you should be able to take care of this yourself. As well as the type of roofing structure.

I'm not sure what advice you are looking for here.

[Skip]

If you're a contractor I think you should be able to take care of this yourself. As well as the type of roofing structure.

I'm not sure what advice you are looking for here.

the OP is not the contractor.. that is yboat..

[Tito]

the OP is not the contractor.. that is yboat..

Got it!

I thought it was Yboat......Yboat -> no wonder all the ?????? LOL

Wall height looks the same - what is it 10'? Looks like the width of the space is about 6'. Why don't you provide a sketch of the plan in excel or something that could draw some simple lines with - put some dimensions in your drawing then hit the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard and post the pic here so we can have a look. Tadow.

[pepetj]

Hey thanks for your replies, I feel I have good company here to pull this off. I will need to measure the whole thing to answer your questions.

This I can give in advance:

The continuos concrete wall is adjacent to another house, and it limits our internal patios. It's possible that at some point that wall (at the entry area) is part of the outside wall of the other house (at least that happens in the front area, before the metallic door, so I will confirm that).

The height of the parallel (or quasi parallel) lateral walls may not be equal. I will address this question asap.

The walls likely have some mold in them. This space have been exposed to the tropical weather without any cleaning for a long time.

I will draw some sketches with more specific data.

Please keep coming by, I need your help here.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

[Tito]

So far I see the posibility of one long row of tanks against one wall.

[Yboat]

Got it!

I thought it was Yboat......Yboat -> no wonder all the ?????? LOL

Wall height looks the same - what is it 10'? Looks like the width of the space is about 6'. Why don't you provide a sketch of the plan in excel or something that could draw some simple lines with - put some dimensions in your drawing then hit the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard and post the pic here so we can have a look. Tadow.

Yeah I was wondering why you sent me that PM.




A easy way to get rid of the mold is a mild bleach solution. spray it on, let it dry. then give it a good scrubing with TSP and a stiff nylon brush. Its easy, cheap and works. I do not recomend power washing in a small area like that or from some one that is inexperanced.


If the walls are pretty even, it really means your only cost effective choice is to slope the roof down to the far end. Where you will need some type of gutter and a way to direct the water away.

Whats around the corner?

[pepetj]

Around the corner is my internal patio (access through sliding glass doors from from both my associate's office-a psychiatrist- and my office).

I'm setting a 250gal glass tank there for my Polypterus species (endlicheri endlicheri and ornatipinnis). The alley we're going to turn into Fish room will be for keeping and breeding Discus, all in planted tanks. I got one small (25gpd) RO unit already.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

[Tito]

breeding Discus, all in planted tanks.

You might want to start another thread on Breeding Discus in planted tanks.

[pepetj]

You might want to start another thread on Breeding Discus in planted tanks.

Once I got the fishroom ready for tank set-up I'll probably will. At home I have three tanks (all planted) with young adult Discus (not the best specimens but it's my learning curve) as well as another in my office.

I'm likely going with either 25gal custom made or 80 to 100gal tanks divided in four segments as to provide 20 to 25gals for each pair. Filtration and heating will be individualized: one per tank (or tank division). But that's moving too far ahead.

I need to do something with the mold and whatever is attached to the wall and floor surfaces and to solve the roofing issue.

Someone suggested using Clear Hurrican Shutters for the roof... I'll look into that.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo